On the flip side, the fans can feel good about the JV coach being very calm and relaxed. Earlier this year she was chomping on a bag of popcorn during the game. At one point she tried screaming instructions to the other end of the court right after putting a handful in her mouth. You couldn’t understand her, but she was enthusiastic. No, I had never seen anything like this before then.

As far as the varsity coach, I always reserve judgement on any complaint until there is clear evidence or multiple witnesses. What you saw a coach do while your team played against them doesn’t cut it. To date with limited information, I find it curious, according to the article, that only this girl’s parents signed a letter to the school board and were the only ones to speak to the same at the meeting. If other people truly witnessed shoving and derogatory remarks wouldn’t they have issued concerns as well? I’m asking for sake of discussion.

Sort of interesting to see the communities involved. The Boardman community is about 90-95% pro-Moschella, Columbiana is considerably more divided. Probably 65-35 Pro-Moschella, but there is certainly a vocal anti-faction.

Ridiculous. You ask any former player of his at Boardman and they will tell you that man cares for his girls more than anything and shaped them into the great women they are today. People need to stop being so sensitive.

I believe the Father in question used to be an assistant with Mosh. It that's the case why did this take until his daughters senior year in her last regular season game to decide she was being abused. Not a fan of his coaching style but the majority of girls that have played for him seem to love him.

I think Moch is an excellent coach. My opinion is the way things are today I don't think a coach should ever put their hands on a female player. U should be able to get your point across without touching a player. Perception is tough these days.

Best coach Boardman has ever had in any sport. Not a coincidence that Boardman girls hoops went from being a state power to below average since he left (due to health issues). I’d take him back in a heartbeat.

Great guy who would do anything for his players. Also was always a great supporter of the other athletic teams at the school too. I’m sure there’s some athletes who he coached who might dislike him but couldn’t that be said for every coach?

This just seems silly to me..if it was so bad why did they wait all this time to say something..played all 4 years and now complain? What is this kid going to do when she gets out in the real world and has a job with a boss that might be the same? suck it up buttercup.

What a shortsighted response
If there is abuse. She should raise the issue.
The fact that she waited four years should not matter.
If the facts prove otherwise. So be it
At least she had the courage to speak up.

My take on this.
I do not think there was any physical abuse. The problem isn't his style, Columbiana knew what his style was. Very "passionate" and intense if you want to call it that. Some of it might be the other antics.

A lot of people have held onto it was the young lady not being able to handle his style of coaching, which I don't believe to be true. My personal opinion is it's some of his belittling comments, derogatory names, and some of what he said to them. I guess in that sense everyone has a breaking point so the time frame seems irrelevant. None of us know what's said in the locker room so it's all up for speculation. None the less the team is sitting on a 20-2 season and I doubt this is really looked into until after the season is over.

You can't coach like you used to be able to. I know for fact, I wouldn't want to coach for a school district because you have a constant microscope on you. Moschella will go down as one of the winning-est coaches in Ohio History, and if this was a problem and comes out that it's been a problem for a while, than all it proves is winning cures a lot of problems.

If it's just a few people having a problem, I think it gives the school the opportunity to say "you can't please everyone."
If this family is the one to shake the Dam loose and they get power in numbers, it might back the District into a corner of making a decision they weren't planning on making to avoid the negativity and potential problems it could create.

I wonder how much an article written a few seasons ago had to do with the parents going on this crusade. He said he was likely to retire after the 2017-18 season to watch his grandchildren golf in college.

I wonder how much an article written a few seasons ago had to do with the parents going on this crusade. He said he was likely to retire after the 2017-18 season to watch his grandchildren golf in college.

Agreed on him having some involvement with basketball programs at Boardman. But, I'm not sure he's a guy that can just be an assistant - needs to be the head guy.

I've been very disappointed with the down-ward trend of the girls hoops program post-Mosh at Boardman - so Columbiana better be ready for what may come once he's gone. We went 30+ years w/o a losing season (And rarely under 75% winning pct. and now have had 2 or 3 losing seasons since he left, playing in an easier conference than the Federal). I know Boardman had some unfortunate personnel losses this year - 3-year starting PG decided not to play due to golf scholarship and very talented freshman forward had a season-ending injury, but it still was very disappointing how badly they were beaten in some games and also some of the schools they lost to. In Mosh's years, even if they were w/o their top 2 players for a game, unless they were playing Hoover, Canfield, etc. they were going to win. The current coach has been there long enough that the lack of talent at soph-senior levels is on him for not developing.

The current freshman class at Boardman is pretty good - if the current coach can't put things in the right direction with them, I think they need to start looking elsewhere. Mediocrity shouldn't be accepted for that program or any program at Boardman.

Not sure there are many places left where a coach can do what coaches did 30 years ago. There is a snowflake factor at work today that something like yelling at a kid for not meeting a standard is abuse. It really depends on what the behavior is. I'm not for any kind of abuse but I am for teaching responsibility and accountability. Lines are more blurred today between hard mentoring and abuse.

I was sitting at a sectional one time a few years back right behind a bench, and saw a coach aggressively grabbing girls by the arm as they came off the floor, and saying things like, "You're stupid." I thought that if he did that to my daughter, we would find ourselves rolling around in the parking lot afterward. That guy is now coaching a boys team and is 19-3 this year. I guess my point is that hard coaching works, doesn't have to be abusive, but can be both effective and abusive. It really is in the eye of the beholder in some cases.

I was aware of another girl, at the same school, ironically, who played for the previous coach, who needed 2 years of therapy to recover from what she described as the "severe emotional and verbal" abuse from her coach. He berated and degraded his players. Many of the girls responded with toughness - which I suspect was the intent, but some of them couldn't take it. After talking with a few dozen kids that went through that program, I concluded that coaches need to account for the varying emotional strengths that players have. It's easier to just treat everyone the same - like dogs - but in today's environment, I think you will get into a lot of trouble with that approach.

Agreed on him having some involvement with basketball programs at Boardman. But, I'm not sure he's a guy that can just be an assistant - needs to be the head guy.

I've been very disappointed with the down-ward trend of the girls hoops program post-Mosh at Boardman - so Columbiana better be ready for what may come once he's gone. We went 30+ years w/o a losing season (And rarely under 75% winning pct. and now have had 2 or 3 losing seasons since he left, playing in an easier conference than the Federal). I know Boardman had some unfortunate personnel losses this year - 3-year starting PG decided not to play due to golf scholarship and very talented freshman forward had a season-ending injury, but it still was very disappointing how badly they were beaten in some games and also some of the schools they lost to. In Mosh's years, even if they were w/o their top 2 players for a game, unless they were playing Hoover, Canfield, etc. they were going to win. The current coach has been there long enough that the lack of talent at soph-senior levels is on him for not developing.

The current freshman class at Boardman is pretty good - if the current coach can't put things in the right direction with them, I think they need to start looking elsewhere. Mediocrity shouldn't be accepted for that program or any program at Boardman.

Think a lot of it is on the rest of the staff. Don't forget, Moschella had a staff that was really strong. Not just Hammerton, at various times he had his daughter and son in law, Zetts, Jen Flores (played at YSU), among others. Things almost seem a bit too casual right now. Many of these classes do well in middle school (even when split among 2 teams) then don't get much better. Honestly not sure we've had a winning season since Mosch left, maybe 2? Either way, not good. Heck, the senior class that graduated in 2017 won the Federal League in freshman hoops, no small achievement.

Maybe if/when Moschella retires, Hammerton can get Courtney Schiffauer on the staff. Though it wouldn't surprise me if she were next in line to be the successor to Moschella.

Vindy article listed Moschella as interested in the Struthers job, the new job about to open up at Chaney when they bring back athletics andddd he said he would be interested in coming back to Boardman to assist under Hammerton.